10:28 PM,
Jan. 31, 2013

UNC Asheville coach Brenda Mock Kirkpatrick keeps encouraging her players through a difficult season that includes 12 straight losses.

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Imagine taking over a program, your first as a head coach, and watching helplessly as your team is decimated by injuries.

Brenda Mock Kirkpatrick doesn't have to - or even want to - imagine such a plight; that is the reality of her initial season with the UNC Asheville women's basketball program.

Mired in a 12-game losing streak and down to eight healthy players (and four of those are freshmen), the Bulldogs (2-19, 0-10) are stumbling through a sixth straight losing season, a stretch in which the program is averaging 20 losses per season. ...